THE BLOGGING HABITS TO LEAVE BEHIND

The New Year is a great opportunity to reflect and focus on what you’d like to change, especially if the previous year didn’t go as planned.

Last year, I felt like I wasn’t getting the most out of blogging as I had hoped for, so I reached out to few individuals to get their input (call it a case-study). I wanted to get a sense of how I was perceived from an external eye, and also to identify what was sabotaging me from being a successful blogger. (Don’t worry I won’t bore you with every single detail of the feedbacks I received, but I knew I had to make adjustment and improve).

Here are some blogging habits I am leaving behind (and perhaps you should too), with hopes to achieve the results I want, and need to grow in this space:

NOT BEING CONSISTENT WITH BLOGGING

GUILTY as charged (on all counts!). This is a bad blogging habit I am SO breaking, especially if I want to take this blogging thing seriously. Classic me! I anxiously post when my mood is positively skewed and then I slowly lose motivation later on. Moving forward, my goal is to change my mindset and to avoid what I call a “blog break”, instead, keep content constantly flowing and BE CONSISTENT!

One way of addressing inconsistent blogging is to have a posting calendar and stick to it! That way your audience will regularly visit your blog page and search engines will keep it archived.

NOT PROOFREADING POSTS

Can we all agree that we don’t wants to read a post that is full of typos, grammatical errors or simply just too hard to follow? I admit, I’m also guilty of spellings & grammatical errors (I still get all confused with my tenses, punctuation marks and grammar) hey🤷‍♀️…nobody is perfect!

Now, I take the time to proof read, read it 3 – 4 times out loud to find errors and see if what I wrote even makes sense before hastily publishing the post. (but hey, you might still find errors in this post ‍🙇‍♀️, if you do, it’s above me lol! jk)

But seriously, not proofreading your posts not only confuses your readers, it can also make you look unschooled. (this also applies to emails you send to brands for collaborations or even at your regular workplace). So proofread everything before hitting the send/publish button.

One way of addressing this is by using Grammarly, which helps proofreads your content while writing it.

NOT REPLYING TO COMMENTS/INTERACTING WITH YOUR AUDIENCE

If your content readers take time to write to you, you should also take time to write back! Replies make your viewers feel appreciated and acknowledged, leading them to invest more time into reading your next post.

Of course it is time consuming to reply to all and every single comments, but you can at least acknowledge them by simply liking or saying a simple “Thank you” (rather than just flat out ignoring). However, it is crucial that you address the commenters asking questions/opinions or looking to simply engage with you.

FIXATING OVER STATS/INSIGHTS: NUMBERS, LIKES AND COMMENTS

Where are the culprits? yes you over there! Do you spend a lot of your time fixating over your stats/page activities several times a day? If so, you have got to stop! Last year, I was constantly tracking numbers (followers, likes, comments etc.) which I must say was very draining. Not only is fixating over your stats/numbers unhealthy, you are also wasting a lot of time. Instead of fixating over your numbers and insights, direct the time and energy into doing other productive activities.

One way of addressing the constant urge to monitor your numbers/stats is to prompt yourself to only check it twice a day (instead of impulsively checking all throughout the day).

COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS

You know it already. You know you shouldn’t compare yourself to others. Yet, that’s often easier said than done.

Comparison is the thief of joy. Who do you most frequently compare yourself to? Who have you compared yourself to in the last 24 hours? The last time you checked your Instagram feed, which updates made you feel envious, or made you feel as if your life paled in comparison?

Comparing yourself to other bloggers/individual won’t do you any good. All it does is get you anxious, feeling frustrated, while keeping you from focusing on yourself and your own uniqueness. Remember, “No one is You and that’s your POWER”! Instead of comparing, water your own grass and be grateful for what you have going on while working towards your growth! Don’t get me wrong, it’s alright to appreciate other bloggers’ craft and be inspired by them, however don’t stress yourself up about your stats, outfits, picture quality simply because it isn’t like theirs. Focus on you. Focus on building your path and being the best that you can be and share that with the rest of us.

With that being said… Let’s put our best foot forward this New Year!!!